Covadonga Restaurant Review

: A Spanish restaurant and bar established by Civil War refugees in 1941, the Covadonga has a huge, informal cantina on the ground floor and a more tranquil restaurant with white tablecloths on the second floor. What is remarkable about the establishment is how trendy it has become in the last few years. The cantina, only open from Monday through Friday, has become the place to see and be seen among the art gallery and museum, literary and journalistic circles of Mexico City. (On Thursday nights it is so packed that you may have a long wait indeed for a table.) The kitchen serves hearty comfort food and is open until two or three in the morning. The menu for both the cantina and restaurant mostly includes standards from the traditional Spanish kitchen: paella, fabada asturiana (a stew of fava beans and different cuts of pork), tortilla (a potato and onion omelet), pulpos a la gallega (octopus steamed with paprika, garlic and coarse salt). There are also various Mexican specialties, including tortilla soup, a Caesar salad prepared tableside, and the best tortas in town.